Football schedules fraught with challenges for Virginia and Virginia Tech

February 25, 2013|By Norm Wood, nwood@dailypress.com | 757-247-4642

Virginia Tech won't have a Thursday night home football game next season for the first time since 2001, while Virginia is set to play one of its most challenging football schedules in years, even though its slate includes just four road games.

The Atlantic Coast Conference released its football schedule Monday with dates for the coming season in a league that will feature 14 programs with new members Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

Virginia Tech's only Thursday night game will be Sept. 26 at Georgia Tech — five days after Virginia Tech hosts Marshall and Georgia Tech hosts North Carolina. Virginia Tech's season gets started Aug. 31 in Atlanta with a much anticipated game against defending national champion Alabama. Tech will wrap up the regular season Nov. 30 at U.Va.

It'll be the second time in four years Tech will open its season against Alabama in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. In 2009, Alabama beat Tech 34-24.

"Opening up the season against defending national champion Alabama in Atlanta and finishing with rival Virginia at Charlottesville certainly make for an important beginning and end for our season," Tech coach Frank Beamer said in a release from the athletic department. "The biggest negative is playing a Thursday night game at Georgia Tech just five days after facing Marshall. We will definitely want to spend some time during the preseason preparing for that game, particularly on defense."

Virginia Tech went 7-6 overall last season, 4-4 in the ACC and defeated Rutgers 13-10 in overtime in the Russell Athletic Bowl. The last time Tech had a worse overall record was 1992, when it went 2-8-1.

Tech will play conference games Nov. 2 at Boston College and Nov. 9 at Miami — teams the Hokies also played on the road last season. The repeat road games are a product of unavoidable scheduling factors brought about by the additions of Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

Virginia Tech's other conference games will be the aforementioned games at Georgia Tech and U.Va., Oct. 5 against UNC, Oct. 12 against Pittsburgh, Oct. 26 against Duke and Nov. 16 against Maryland. Virginia Tech, which will meet five bowl teams from last season, plays non-conference games Sept. 7 against Western Carolina and Sept. 14 at East Carolina, plus the aforementioned games against Alabama and Marshall.

U.Va., which will play eight home games, will open its season with home games Aug. 31 against Brigham Young and Sept. 7 against Oregon. U.Va. closes the regular season with road games Nov. 9 at North Carolina and Nov. 23 at Miami, as well as the Nov. 30 home game against Virginia Tech, which for the first time since 2005 will have a full off week to prepare for U.Va.

In addition to games against UNC, Miami and Virginia Tech, U.Va. will play conference games Sept. 28 at Pittsburgh, Oct. 12 at Maryland, Oct. 19 against Duke, Oct. 26 against Georgia Tech and Nov. 2 against Clemson. U.Va., which went 4-8 overall last season and 2-6 in the ACC, will play eight teams that participated in bowls last season.

U.Va.'s other non-conference games are Sept. 21 against Virginia Military Institute and Oct. 5 against Ball State.

U.Va. also announced Monday it will play Boise State in a home-and-home two-game series beginning with a Sept. 26, 2015, meeting in Charlottesville and a Sept. 23, 2017, trip to Boise, Idaho.

Boise State is the latest prominent program from the West to be added to U.Va.'s future football schedules. U.Va. also is preparing for two-game series with Brigham Young (next season in Charlottesville and Sept. 20, 2014, in Provo, Utah), Oregon (next season in Charlottesville and Sept. 10, 2016, in Eugene, Ore.), UCLA (2014 in Charlottesville and '15 in Pasadena, Calif.) and Stanford (Sept. 9, 2017, in Charlottesville and Sept. 8, 2018, in Stanford, Calif.).

"This is a very challenging (2013) schedule, but it is the type of schedule I want us to play each and every year," U.Va. coach Mike London said in a statement released by the athletic department. "We will have to be our best in every practice and every game. With eight home games, our fans can really make a difference. We can't do it without them."